Saying Goodbye to Agent Carter and The Grinder

17May

Howdy ladies and gents, today I return to the world of blogging to talk about some TV news. Recently it was announced that both Marvel’s Agent Carter and The Grinder were recently cancelled and since they were shows that I really liked I just wanted to reflect on them and share my thoughts on their cancellation.

Agent Carter

Agent Carter has always been a show not appreciated by many, but loved by a select few and in some cases it has even been preferred over Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. too. For me I liked season 1, but this year’s season 2 definitely changed things up and made the stories, tone and character development a heck of lot more interesting and engaging. Now I know that there weren’t a lot of fans of season 2 because of the focus on humour, the more light-hearted tone and a story that wasn’t in line with what took place last season, but some of those elements are what I thought made season 2 fun. This season really dove deeper into the relationship between Peggy and Jarvis and why it was important,the introduction of Dark Matter added an interesting supernatural element, the show covered themes of race, gender and the inner workings of Hollywood well, and finally for the most part Whitney Frost was a pretty solid villain with a good backstory and rise to power. Now good the humour have been toned down? Yes. Would better writing have fixed certain tonal shifts, Peggy’s love triangle and given Whitney Frost more to do beyond being a villain limited to one season? I would think so. And would a heavier focus on Dottie Underwood have made the show more interesting and given the show better continuity with last season? Probably. In the end we’ll never know, I guess the viewership wasn’t high enough and the content wasn’t what a lot of fans were looking for, but I had hoped Agent Carter would at least see a third season just to get some more stories, but I guess maybe some future comics, film flashbacks or a short could fill in the gaps.

The Grinder

Ah The Grinder, tis a shame to see you go, but I guess you weren’t funny enough to stick around. For me I didn’t start this show until early side of March and then got addicted with the first few episodes. What I liked about The Grinder was its meta nature, sel-awareness and over-the-top style and humour, the show was very silly, but in a good way, and for at least the first have of the show, maybe up to around episode 15 the show was on fire, fairly consistent and introduced new scenarios that changed things up but kept the formula of the show intact. I think what happened with the show’s demise was a few of things like: 1) That those who weren’t sold on the first few episodes gave up without giving the show a proper chance. 2) I think the show went on for too long and could have been shortened with less repetition and filler episodes and tighter main narrative. And 3) I think the show ran out of steam about 2/3’s of the way into the show, with the latter stories being more a drag and some of the humour felt less funny and smartly written than in earlier episodes. Regardless of those issues I adored Rob Lowe and his charisma in the role of Dean Sanderson and what he brought to the “The Grinder” TV series inside of the show. Lowe and Fred Savage had good chemistry and I also enjoyed what Mary Elizabeth Ellis brought to the show as well.

It does suck that both of these shows have been axed considering how much fun they were and the potential they had to be more, but I guess that’s just the way things go in the ever-changing world of TV. I just want to say that it was a good time checking these shows out while they were airing and the memories won’t be forgotten. 🙂

So did you watch Agent Carter or The Grinder or both? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀